Disney confirms production on 'Star Wars' spinoffs

Walt Disney CEO and owner-of-your-childhood Bob Iger talked to CNBC today and revealed some intriguing, albeit semi-abstract, news about the company’s plans for the Star Wars franchise. “We are working on a few standalone films,” Iger said, explaining that the company is planning to produce an indeterminate number of spin-off films to run alongside Episodes VII, VIII, and IX. “[Lawrence] Kasdan and Simon Kinberg are both working on films derived from great Star Wars characters,” continued Iger. He also clarified that Kasdan and Kinberg are both working with director J.J. Abrams on Star Wars: Episode VII, which is being written by Toy Story 3’s Michael Arndt.

According to Iger’s roadmap for the franchise, the sequel trilogy will run for six years starting in 2015, with a new movie hitting theaters every three years. The spin-offs would be released in between – a rough approximation of the Disney-Marvel Avengers mega-franchise.

Since he declined to name which characters could be getting the spin-off treatment, this news allows us to indulge in a flagrant bit of rumormongering. Kasdan co-wrote Empire Strikes Back, which introduced fan-favorite character Boba Fett, so perhaps he’s working on a bounty hunter movie. Kinberg wrote various X-Men movies, so perhaps he’s writing about a team, like say… a Rogue Squadron spin-off. Both of those theories are probably false, but we encourage you to spread them around the Internet, just in case.